Machine for clearing away the ballast from railway tracks



Jan. 22, 1957 J. DROUARD ETAL MACHINE FOR CLEARING AWAY THE BALLAST FROM RAILWAY TRACKS 2 Shee'ts-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 15, 1952 JACQUES .0

ROUARD BOULARDK /M AND GE ORCES By 7 Jan. 22, 1957 J. DROUARD E.TAL

TRACKS MACHINE FOR CLEARI NG AWAY THE BALLAST FROM RAILWAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 15, 1952 INVENTORS M 0 n 6 2 6 40 mm w A Q6 IN G AWAY THE RAILWAY TRACKS Jacques Drouard, Paris, N euilly-sur-S Application December 15, 1952, Serial No. Claims priority,

MACHINE FOR CLEAR FR M application France January 3, 1952 1 Claim. (Cl. 37-404) There are difie the ballast from machines hav rent types of machin railway tracks an es for clearing away -Inentioned ty e comprise an upper ack to be treated and th and across the track last side-wise for subr toward a sereener or toward gh outputs from maincrease the power these increases are t forth hereafter.

applied thereto. Ho a serious inconvenience se cases this chain is rough or channel me suspension members fr therefore, fr machine is rol' especially when the ballast ich case a real solid block ch tie, which the clearing chain gresses with the machine.

will be found under ea must break up as it pro Similar consequences ase contemplated 0 run off the track or t ely. The essential he traekitself to be displaced tran portion of the machi portion of the chain, 1y, that is at right ang instead of being les to the track a disposed transverseccount of the oblique direction 0 stress produced on the ballast by f application of the this digging portion United StatesPatentO given here as they are fully ponent force. 7

According to a complementary feature of the present invention, the direction of inclination of the digging portion of the machine relative to the track axis is such that the leading end of this portion in the direction of motion of the ballast cleared ahead, on the track engaging the digging portion into hitherto untreated tendency.

The afiixed drawings forming part of this specification ustrate In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatical elevational the known machine;

Figure 2 is a corresponding plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is an elevational rangement of the machine accordtn this invention; and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the machine shown in Figure 3.

The reference numeral 1 designates the railway track from which the ballast is to be cleared away, which consists of the conventional ties and rails on which the whole of the machine is adapted to travel. As the machine progresses along the track the latter is lifted and held in any adequate manner, for example by means of jacks or props or any other suitable devices, such as double crawler treads of view showing cerning the specific arrangement of these various parts, excepting the operative portion of the chain, will not be disclosed in the aforesaid British patent.

In the known machine illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 helower'horizon V c troughor channel element 9 passing heneath the railway track and is disposed substantially at right angles to the track axis.

As a rule, the ballast to be cleared away is rather loose between the ties, in the spotted zones 10 of Figures 1 and 2, while it fon'ns a particularly compact and hard mass under the ties, that is in the hatched zones 11 of the same figures.

outside and then up the inclined trough leading to the screener or to conveyor means 16 adapted to dump the ballast directly onto the roadbed.

When, after passing through a less compact ballast'portion 10, the chain 4 engages a more compact portion 11 the force required for removing the ballast becomes suddenly much greater. In order to exert this greater force the chain bears against its supporting elements, thereby exerting thereon a reaction hich is transmitted through the suspension elements 7 to-the upper portion of the machine, notably to the body 2 which, through the wheels 17, bears in turn on the rails of track 1. Thus, this track is strongly urged in the direction of the arrows 18 and if a sulficient stress is-applied to the track the latter may be deformed. An extremely violent stress may even either displace the track sidewise to a substantial extent or cause the machine to run oif the track in the direction of the arrows 18. i

This serious inconvenience can be avoided through the application to the above-described machine of the improvements accoding to this invention, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

In this case, the general arrangement of the machine is identical and the corresponding parts are indicated with the same reference numbers in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. However, the lower trough or channel element is designated with the reference sign 9 and disposed not at right angles to the track axis as in the case of the trough or channel element 9, but at an angle relative to said axis, to such a degree that the front end of the trough in the direction of motion of the chain 4, will be positioned ahead, on the track, in the direction of motion of this chain and in that of the arrow 12.

With this specific arrangement it is obvious that the digging chain 4 does not engage the entire width of a hard zone 11 at one time but engages this zone firstly at its side corresponding to the foremost chain portion, for example the left-hand portion thereof, with respect to the direction of travel 12, so as to progressively remove the ballast from left to right as the machine progresses along the track.

When a less advanced portion of chain 4 engages the opposite side of a hard zone 11, for example the righthand portion thereof, the foremost chain portion engages the next hard zone. 1

Thus, a regular continuity is obtained in the operation of this chain 4, in contradistinction with the irregular operation observed in former machines wherein the digging member operated alternately in a zone of loose ballast and in a zone of hard or compact ballast, as will be readily understood from the drawings. Thus, instead of causing considerable variations in the stress applied to the chain in particular and in the power required for driving the machine in general, the difference in ballast density from one transverse section to another will assist not only in keeping power requirements within closer limits but also in improving the stability of the ballast clearing machine in general.

The strain on the chain may be kept within these close, substantial limits by so calculating the angle between the digging portion of the chain and the track axis that the longitudinal distance most points of its digging portion travelling in the lower trough 9' will correspond to at least the pitch of the ties. However, if a lesser obliquity is resorted to the chain will sometimes operate completely between two adjacent between the foremost and the backties. but it will never operate only in a hard zone 11, provided that the longitudinal distance between the aforesaid foremost and backmost points is greater than the width of this hard zone and even so the result will be improved considerably.

In the foregoing evidence is given of the fact that the novel arrangement steadies and reduces the component of the reactive strain in the direction of the arrows 18. On the other hand, if the direction of inclination of the digging portion relative to the longitudinal or track axis is that shown in Figures 3 and 4 also with respect to the direction of travel 8 of the chain 4, it will be seen that the trough or guide channel assembly is constantly urged to the right with respect to the direction of travel 12 of the machine on the track and that this assembly cannot move in this direction because it would be resisted by the still untreated ballast on its right. Thus, the front portion of the machine will no more have any appreciable tendency to swing to the right and to drag along the track laterally.

It will be readily understood that the form of embodiment exemplified in Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings is not to be construed as limiting the field of the invention as many details thereof may be varied without altering the spirit and scope of the invention. As already stated hereinabove, the invention is also applicable to a machine for clearing away the ballast from railway tracks which has a digging device of any other description.

What we claim is:

A machine for clearing away the ballast from railway tracks comprising a carriage adapted to roll on the track above the ballast to he treated, a driven endless chain having excavator portions and elevator portions supported by said carriage in a plane inclined with respect to said track and further positioned for being driven along a substantially triangular closed path, a triangularly shaped trough supported by said carriage and having said chain riding therein and said trough having two sides thereof of difierent lengths and extending forwardly of said carriage at an angle laterally of said carriage with each side capable of reaching outside of and below said track and with the third side thereof extending diagonally of the longitudinal direction of said track between said two sides thereof for guiding theexcavator porton of said endless chain substantially horizontally in a straight line beneath the ties of said track from one side to the other side thereof and at acute anglesrelative to the longitudinal axis of said track whereby the foremost point of said excavator portion, with respect to the direction of travel of the ballast as it is cleared away by said excavator portion, is constantly ahead both with respect to the longitudinal direction of said track and the direction of travel of the machine.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

